Huskies Ranked 7th in Early Big East Power Rankings

Published at 12:58 PM EST on Jan 10, 2013

Receive the latest dog-house updates in your inbox

People love lists. It takes the complicated and makes it simple. We think this goes a long way in explaining why power rankings are so popular. It also provides fans something they're always searching for: hope. For the Huskies, desperation might be a better description -- back-to-back 5-7 records have coach Paul Pasqualoni on the ol' hot seat and looking to turn things around in 2013.

So what does ESPN Big East blogger Andre Adelson make of all this? Not much, it turns out. Earlier this week, she ranked the Huskies seventh out of 11 ever-changing football-playing conference schools.

"Considering the best players on defense are gone, it is hard to believe the Huskies will be much improved in 2013 over 2012," she wrote. "The defense was the best part of this team, and now it must replace the Big East leader in sacks, (Trevardo Williams), along with Sio Moore, Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Jory Johnson and Dwayne Gratz. Offensively, this group needs an overhaul. Will it get one before it's too late?"

Couldn't agree more about the concerns on defense, especially with the man behind that unit's success -- defensive coordinator Don Brown -- now at Boston College. That said, we don't think the offense needs to be overhauled. Not unless that's a euphemism for "offensive coordinator George DeLeone needs to give up play-calling duties." Like most folks -- including athletic director Warde Manual -- we can get on board with that.

A fresh face with new ideas seems reasonable for an offense that sputtered the last two seasons.